People enjoy playing games and often regard a prize won by playing a game to be more valuable than that of the prize itself. Just the chance to win a prize provides considerable entertainment. Games are often used to induce persons to visit a location order to obtain a game entry, check game outcomes and/or redeem prizes won. The well-known McDonalds restaurant, for example, provides scratch-off game cards with prizes of cash and other awards as prizes. Such scratch-off tickets are provided free of charge without a purchase requirement. To obtain a free game card, people need only to visit a local McDonalds location.
Casinos sometimes issue free or reduced price wagers to entice people to visit a casino location. For example, an enticement of $20 in free play might be included in a direct mail piece. A person that receives such a mailer can simply bring the mailer to a designated casino location within defined time limits and receive that amount in coins, free credits on a gaming machine or promotional chips for play on table games. While such offers are enticing, they often are not strong enough to overcome the effort of returning to the casino and often times, people simply forget about the offer and do not return within the allotted time to collect their incentive.
Some casinos offer promotional games on the casino floor, wherein players redeem their free credit entitlement in the form of a game which can randomly award one of several amounts of free credits for casino game play, which are redeemable immediately or at a later time to encourage return visits. In some cases, the person must return at a later time just to learn the award value. People are sometimes reluctant to revisit the casino to learn of a prize value or to collect a prize due to the passage of time, disengagement from the game process or simple forgetfulness. Player tracking systems, such as International Game Technology's Advantage system and Bally Technology's Slot Management System and Table Management System are also well known. Player tracking systems are useful for automating some or all of the tasks required to provide additional incentives for frequent or loyal play. For example, points may be awarded for every unit of wagers made and those points may be redeemed for prizes.
Player tracking systems utilize magnetic striped cards to hold a unique identifier which is associated with a specific person's account. Each gambling machine and/or table game position is equipped with a compatible card reader. A person wishing to allow their gambling activities to be monitored inserts their card into the compatible card reader. Other identification techniques are also useful with player tracking systems and include but are not limited to biometric identification, smart cards and Hollerith cards.
In some cases, additional identity authentication is required such as entering a PIN or password on a keypad or touchscreen. Most player tracking systems, include a display which provides acknowledgment that the card was accurately read and associated with an account. Typically, for so long as the person's card remains inserted in the reader, all gambling activity that occurs on the associated gambling game is recorded on the identified account.
All card readers and displays associated with the player tracking systems are connected via a network to one or more central servers where account records are kept. Two way communication is provided by these networks, meaning the central server can monitor what is transpiring at the gaming system and the central server may pass messages to the gaming system itself, or its associated peripherals. Player tracking systems are well-known in the gambling industry. Example player tracking system architectures are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,361 entitled “Gaming machine information, communication and display system” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,961 entitled “Method for operating networked gaming devices,” both of which are herein incorporated by reference. Player tracking systems are also used to automatically provide awards to players as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,697 entitled “Method for crediting a player of an electronic gaming device” which is also incorporated by reference herein.
A key to any successful gaming operation includes getting players to visit the gambling location, and once there encouraging the players to gamble more. Providing chances to win a prize as discussed above is just one form of incentive to induce, seduce, or convince a player to visit a gambling location. Player club rewards may serve the same function and encourage increased gambling. Additionally, bonus round games are also typically thought to encourage player participation and certain known bonus games provide for player participation in the bonus round game with other players.
Sweeping changes permeate the gaming industry, from modernizing gaming systems to increase visibility and attractiveness to players to fine tuning player clubs that provide valued players with rewards. One focus of these changes includes provision for new and interesting methods of rewarding players to visit gambling locations.
One of the driving forces in changes in the gaming industry has been the effort associated with the modernization of gaming computer systems. This modernization of gaming machine themselves provides large amount of computing power and numerous peripheral systems that are typically under-utilized.